My Father was Reb Zev HaKohen (Mr. William) Stern z”l. You may have heard of him and the fact that he passed away recently on 25th Adar. He was a true legend. In addition to being a famous and influential businessman in his heyday, he was an Askan par excellence and a person who lived his life for others. In his last years, he set up The Jewish Center in Kaunas. My Father always felt warmly for Jewish students studying in Universities, having studied himself in Harvard University Law School. He saw the danger of mixing and assimilating with non-Jewish fellow students and felt an “achrayus” to influence Jewish students to marry within the Faith.

It’s a morning of firsts for the Supreme Court, the first time audio of the court’s arguments will be heard live by the world and the first arguments by telephone. The changes are a result of the coronavirus pandemic, which has made holding courtroom sessions unsafe, especially with six justices aged 65 or older and at risk of getting seriously sick from the virus. The experiment beginning Monday could propel the court to routinely livestream its arguments. Or the 10 cases over six days could just be extraordinary exceptions to the court’s sustained opposition to broadening the audience that can hear, if not see, its work live.

All New Jersey schools will remain closed for the rest of the school year, Gov. Phil Murphy announced on Monday. The announcement means the state’s 1.4 million grade school students will finish the academic year via remote instruction from their homes. The move follows Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s announcement Friday that New York schools would remain closed for the year, with plans for beyond that still in the works. Murphy had promised an announcement on schools by May 15. He said Thursday he didn’t envision shortening the school year, except to account for a few snow days that weren’t needed. “We’re not going to shorten the school year,” he said. “The only question is, is it going to be remote or physical?”

NYC PBA President Patrick Lynch blasted “the cowards” who run NYC, and claimed that police officers were “once again being thrown under the bus”. Lynch says cops should not be the ones enforcing social distancing. Read the strong statement given to YWN moments ago: “This situation is untenable: the NYPD needs to get cops out of the social distancing enforcement business altogether. The cowards who run this city have given us nothing but vague guidelines and mixed messages, leaving the cops on the street corners to fend for ourselves. Nobody has a right to interfere with a police action. But now that the inevitable backlash has arrived, they are once again throwing us under the bus.

The dead body of a woman, age 38, was found in a private home in Bat Yam on Yoseftal Street. The woman’s husband, a man in his 50s, called the police and confessed to murdering his wife. Police have arrested the woman’s husband, who has confessed to the murder. United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Benny Mizrachi, who was one of the first responders to arrive at the scene said: “When I arrived I found a woman with no signs of life. With great sadness, there was nothing to do except to declare her death due to the severity of injuries that she sustained.” According to the police, the man sounded under the influence of alcohol or drugs when he made the call and gave several addresses. One of them was the address at Bat Yam.

Hello, my name is Tamara Sadykova, I am a widow with 4 children.On the last Pessach eve, I lost my 35-year-old son who had suffered all his life and when he contracted a corona virus failed to recover and passed away. CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW I have a daughter who is only 44 who is fighting for her life !!Tragedy upon a tragedy.She suffers from severe mentality retardation and Seizures disprder (Epilepsy) Hyperlipidemia. CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW The expenses for all the treatments are unbearable, I am constantly in anxiety and depression, and I have no way to help her, I do not even have money for the basic stuff needed.I appeal to you dear brothers, until when can I stand it?Please Have רחמנות on me and on my children, help us pay the big medical expenses needed to save my daughter.

In a move that will cause the appropriation of land from the Palestinian run municipality of Hebron, Defense Minister Naftali Bennett approved the construction of an elevator that will make the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron accessible to individuals with physical impairments, Israelis and Palestinians alike. Under the terms of the 1997 Hebron agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, such construction requires the approval of the Hebron Municipality even though the site of the Tomb of the Patriarchs itself is under the auspices of the IDF. Due to the municipality’s objection, the only way Israel is able to move forward on the project is to place the construction under the auspices of the Civil Administration, which Bennett did.

A Jews in his 30s who lives in the exclusive waterfront neighborhood of Puerto Madero neighborhood in Buenos Aires poured out $4,000 worth of alcohol in his kitchen sink on Chol Hamoed Pesach. Rav Chaim Oirechman, director of the Chabad house in Puerto Madero told the story behind the incident to B’Chadrei Chareidim. “This is a young man who in the past year withdrew a bit from participating in davening and shiurim in the Chabad house,” said Rav Chaim Oirechman, director of the Chabad house in Puerto Madero. “At first I didn’t understand why but later people in the community told me that he was dating a non-Jewess.

YWN regrets to inform you of the tragic Petira of Hbochur Moshe Just (Yust) Z”L, who was R”L killed in a hit and run accident in Arizona. He was 18. Sources tell YWN that a group of 3 boys were on a cross country trip, when they stopped on the 89 Freeway near Flagstaff Arizona late Sunday night to make a Kiddush Hashem. The boys noticed a vehicle stuck with a flat tire on the side of the road, and stopped to offer their assistance. Minutes later, a speeding vehicle passed by, and struck Moshe. The vehicle sped away and never stopped. He was R”L Niftar at the scene. Misaskim of NY received a phone call about the tragedy and immediately reached out to the Chabad Shliach in Flagstaff Arizon, Rabbi Dovie Schapiro, who rushed to the scene.

Dovid HaMelech used the power of Brachos to stop the plague of his time. These days, coronavirus presents a similar opportunity to deepen our connection with Hashem. That’s why Torah educators in Jerusalem have put together this special seminar: The Bracha Seminar is a self-guided, 8-part course (each a 20-minute module) that examines classical Torah sources on the hashkafic and halachic underpinnings of Brachos.  The goal is to connect with Hashem through saying Brachos with greater kavana. Join all of Klal Yisrael in this important effort. HaRav HaGaon Reuven Feinstein, shlita, and HaRav HaGaon Noach Isaac Oelbaum, shlita, have provided their written haskamas. Registration is free and the sessions start May 3, 2020 (two per week until Shavuos).